Stansted Airport History and Nostalgia

[Sotonsean]

EDIT.....since starting this thread the title has been changed from "Scandinavian Invasion" to something that better reflects the various topics and discussions. The new title to this thread is now named "Stansted Airport History and Nostalgia".

I appreciate everyone's contributions.

​​​I thought that I would start a thread regarding the Scandinavian Invasion that occurred on Sundays at London Stansted Airport during the late 1970's and 1980's long before the low cost airlines and the new terminal that opened in 1991.

During that period London Stansted Airport was more of a ghost airport except for a few seasonal charters by the likes of Air Malta, Austrian Airlines, Aviogenex, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, JAT Yugoslav Airlines, Transeuropa, a few scheduled flights from Jersey European Airways and Air UK. There was also the summer only weekly Viscount service from British Midland Airways to Jersey.

London Stansted during the mid eighties also saw for a limited time the Highland Express B747 to Newark via Prestwick. Wardair operated a weekly B747 to Toronto plus the Caribbean Airways (Lionair) B747 charter to Barbados and the occasional American Trans Air TriStar. Towards the end of the eighties STN also saw regular visits from the Canadian airlines Air Transat with their B757's and Tristars and Crown Air DC8-52's. There was a short lived scheduled flight by Aer Lingus to Dublin with B737. Air France flew to Paris CDG with a SAAB 340 along with KLM to Amsterdam with a F27.

The maintenance areas always had something of interest with regular visitors such as Air Guinea B707/ B727, Air Liberia B737, Air Mali B727, Somalia Airways B707, TAAG Angola Airlines B707, ZAS "Airline of Egypt" B707 and many more.

TransMeridian CL-44's, DC8's, Shorts Belfasts, IAS Cargo Airlines DC8's. TransMeridian Cargo merged with IAS Cargo Airlines in 1979 to form the short lived British Cargo Airlines. Other cargo movements by U.A.S. Cargo B707, Uganda Airlines B707 and Hercules, the odd Flying Tiger Airlines DC8.

There was of course the dedicated Ford flights with their BAC1-11's and Gulfstream 1's and aircraft on crew training flights from various airlines but on the whole there wasn't many movements especially compared to today.

But the real highlight of the week was on a Sunday when London Stansted Airport saw many movements from various Scandinavian airlines that we're otherwise not seen in the United Kingdom. The only time you would probably see those airlines would be in their respective countries or in European sun destinations and in particular Greek or Spanish resort airport's.

On a Sunday at London Stansted during the late 1970's upto the late 1980's you could see regular and multiple movements by the following airlines although some eventually moved to London Gatwick Airport as in the case with Finnair and Kar Air Finland. Sterling Airlines briefly moved to Luton Airport but eventually moved back to London Stansted Airport. Scanair was sold off by SAS and became Premair.

Braathens SAFE...B737, B767
Busy Bee...B737
Conair...B720, A300, A320
Finnair...DC8, DC9
Kar Air Finland...DC8
Linjeflyg...F28
Mearsk...B720, B737
​​​​​​Premair...A300, DC10
SAS Scandinavian Airlines...DC8, DC9, D10
Scanair...A300, DC8, DC10
​​​​​​Sterling Airlines...B727, DC8, Caravelle
Transair Sweden...B727
Transwede Airways...B737, Caravelle

I'm sure that there are many members on here who can remember the Scandinavian Invasion at London Stansted Airport during that period.

I would be interested to read about other people's memories from that period as well as sharing photos.

The Luton Nostalgia thread over the years has always been a fairly active thread with some great posts and some excellent photos. Let's see if we can do justice to the past history at London Stansted Airport.

I look forward to reading your comments

Sean

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